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Tag Archives: Debbie Madden

MOVIE: THE TIME MACHINE

March 22, 2002

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If only technology could give back our two hours

by DEBBIE MADDEN

The Time Machine, directed by Simon Wells, H. G. Wells’ grandson, should be everything a girl could want in a movie—love, romance, a beautiful ring, a gunshot wound and a crushing blow—Oh, wait, scratch those last two.
Our hero Alex (Guy Pearce) the future time traveler lives in a slightly cluttered Currier & Ives print of New York City. He has the perfect job, a doting housekeeper, a concerned friend and an adoring girlfriend, whose only desire is for Alex to give her flowers.
But on the night Alex plans to propose, his beloved is shot dead in a bungled robbery. This is the catalyst that pushes him over the edge from overworked professor to obsessed inventor. After four years of forgetting to shave and shower, he steps into his bright, shiny, new time machine with the intent of righting the past.
Savvy to prior events, and with a clean-shaven face, Alex steers his love on a different path out of harms way, and all is going well until she asks for her flowers. Unfortunately for Alex his girlfriend is killed yet again in a freak accident when he steps away to get her flowers.
Luckily for his now twice deceased girlfriend, he figures out that she would only die a thousand times, a thousand different ways if he continued to repeat the past.
Unluckily for us, he decides to travel to the future to try to find out why he can’t change the past.
Other than a couple of semi-interesting pit stops in the future the ultimate destination of the movie is to a stylized, yet primitive version of the world so richly described in H. G. Wells book of the same name. Here Alex encounters a pasty faced Jeremy Irons in the very badly acted role of the Uber-Morlock, who lords over the lesser creatures 800,000 years in the future. I believe it may have been more interesting to see the other 998 ways his girlfriend could expire.
The Time Machine is not without redeeming qualities. Guy Pearce is so likable you can’t really hate the movie even though it deserves to be.
Maybe by the time you see the movie someone will have changed the past so the last half of this movie is worth watching.

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20,000 leagues under the sea

February 6, 2002

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by DEBBIE MADDEN

Jan. 2 was like no other day Randi Millburn has ever seen in her ten years at Longview Community College. It was the day the bookstore narrowly averted disaster, thanks to the quick action of bookstore employees and the Lee’s Summit Fire Department.

At 6:35 p.m., the fire alarm rang, signaling a broken water pipe on the second floor of the Campus Center between the Business Office and Financial Aid. Bookstore employees were instructed to leave the building because the water from the pipe was flooding through the ventilation system and draining into the bookstore and the cafeteria.

Bookstore employees Randi Millburn, Jennifer Zinchak, John Taranto and manager Michelle Capps rushed to cover merchandise with plastic tarps and move anything in the path of the water. “The water was a sheet on the wall pouring down onto the floor,” said Millburn. “We rushed to pull everything off the walls as each new leak sprung. The only way we saved so much was through teamwork. We managed to save quite a lot.”

For all their efforts, they still lost a considerable amount of merchandise, including textbooks, an entire display rack of greeting cards, some candy and a stack of scantrons. According to Millburn, if not for the diligence of the employees and the Fire Department, the loss would have amounted to much more. At this time no estimate of the amount of loss was available.

Even with most of the merchandise safe, the bookstore suffered considerable water damage. “The maintenance staff was phenomenal. They cleaned the floor, replaced all the ceiling tiles and shampooed the carpets,” said Jennifer Zinchak. “Without them we wouldn’t have been able to reopen so quickly.”

The bookstore was closed for two business days after the flood and reopened on Jan. 7. Business as usual at the bookstore was barely affected: some of the less-damaged books were sold at a discount and the majority of stock was salvaged and ready for sale on opening day.

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Coloring your college experience

February 6, 2002

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Club day makes an effort to bring Longview’s clubs back to life

by DEBBIE MADDEN

Uncle Sam wants you! But so do over 20 Longview Campus student organizations and clubs. With this many people wanting you it could really boost your self-esteem. The good news is you can spread yourself around and kick that self-esteem up several notches by joining more than one club.

Amongst the backdrop of a mini carnival with free cotton candy, nachos, colorful balloons and music provided by Radio Free Longview the various groups including academic oriented, campus community, religious and sports related clubs gathered January 17 in the Campus Center cafeteria. But instead of hucksters many of the organizations had friendly volunteers at their table waiting to hand out information and enthusiasm.

Club Day was successful for many organizations; several of the groups acquired a number of new and potential members. If you weren’t able to attend club day don’t despair, you can visit the Student Activities Office for a list of clubs and contacts.

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MOVIE: HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER’S STONE

November 16, 2001

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by DEBBIE MADDEN

Imagine peeping out your window on a dark, foggy night and catching sight of a bespectacled man in a robe with a long white beard extinguishing street lamps with a most unusual contraption. You would be getting only a small taste of the magical world Harry Potter was thrust into.
This first scene opens up a magical world full of wonderfully ugly goblins, exquisite architecture, glorious billowy spirits and exotic beasts. It also accomplishes what so few theatrical adaptations have; it visually brings a book to life and doesn’t leave you wanting for much.
Director Christopher Columbus, under the watchful eye of author J. K. Rowling, faithfully retells Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, complete with dazzling special effects and an incredible amount of detail.
The movie is not without flaws, albeit minor ones. Harry Potter groupies are in for a real treat, but for those who haven’t been initiated into the mystical world of Harry Potter, the movie may have gaps in the story line. Most prominent is the lack of animosity on screen between Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). Harry fears for his life at one point in the movie at the hands or magic wand of Prof. Snape, but aside from a few well-placed sneers from Snape there is no real basis for his fears.
Radcliffe delivers an even performance, although he has a hard time measuring up to the caliber of the adult supporting cast. The real gem is Harry’s best friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint); he is on the same level as Robbie Coltrane’s Hagrid and Richard Harris as Dumbledore. He is a natural as Harry’s foil and his comedic timing never falls flat. Other than Hagrid, Dumbledore and the main children’s characters Harry, Ron and Hermione Granger there is very little character development. Which is sad because while the adults had great visual impact they were sadly not much more than window-dressing.
Christopher Columbus, best remembered for his work on Home Alone, behaved himself for the most part and subdued his urges for gratuitous violence, with one exception-the Quidditch match. Unfortunately this spectacle was nothing more than a game of flying hockey. At the beginning of the match the referee was introduced to the cheering crowd, I’m not sure why they wasted the time, since not one foul was called, even when two of Harry’s teammates were knocked unconscious by the opposing team. This whole scene should be given a foul.
This movie isn’t only for Harry Potter fans, with all the action and special effects the few weak spots don’t detract from the overall effect it was truly what millions of fans have been waiting for.

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